Last week, a district judge in Manhattan ruled that criminal prosecutors can examine 900 pages of documents linked to the alleged theft of Ashley Biden’s diary. The judge rejected a First Amendment claim from Project Veritas.
Attorneys for Project Veritas, a nonprofit conservative group that identifies as a news organization, are contemplating an appeal of the ruling by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres.
Torres specified that the documents, seized during authorized raids of three Project Veritas members’ homes in November 2021, must be handed over to investigators by January 5.
Electronic devices were also acquired in the raid, and two cell phones were found at the home of James O’Keefe, the group’s founder, who has since been fired.
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Project Veritas and O’Keefe’s lawyers argued that the legal action “seems undertaken not to vindicate any real interests of justice, but rather to stifle the press from investigating the President’s family.”
They added: “It is impossible to imagine the government investigating an abandoned diary (or perhaps the other belongings left behind with it), had the diary not been written by someone with the last name ‘Biden.'”
In August 2022, Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property. This referred to Ashley Biden’s diary and other items reportedly stored at a friend’s house in Delray Beach, Florida.
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She referred to the guilty pleas of Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander in August 2022 for conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property. Both individuals are awaiting sentencing.
The guilty pleas occurred two years after Harris and Kurlander, not affiliated with Project Veritas, discovered items, including a diary, belonging to Ashley Biden at a friend’s house in Delray Beach, Florida. Initially considering selling the stolen property to Donald Trump’s campaign, they were advised by a campaign representative to take it to the FBI.
On behalf of the nonprofit, Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman stated on Monday that attorneys are contemplating appealing U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres’s ruling from last Thursday in Manhattan.
Established in 2010, Project Veritas identifies itself as a news organization. It is renowned for conducting hidden camera stings that have embarrassed news outlets, labor organizations, and Democratic politicians.
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The judge dismissed the First Amendment arguments, stating they were “inconsistent with Supreme Court precedent” in the ruling. She also highlighted that Project Veritas couldn’t claim protection for the identity of a confidential source after two individuals publicly pleaded guilty in the case.
Eventually, Project Veritas paid each of them $20,000 to deliver the diary, containing “highly personal entries,” along with a digital storage card with private family photos, tax documents, clothes, and luggage, to New York, prosecutors said.
Despite these actions, Project Veritas itself was not charged with any crime. The group maintains that its activities were ethical and legal, falling within the realm of newsgathering.
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